Emerging technologies are innovative technologies at advanced developmental stages which have enormous potential to change the face of industry and society. The Innovation Authority has chosen to focus on technologies with an estimated timeframe of 3-8 years for product development. This period enables to identify the emerging technologies relevant for Israeli industry and delineates the “guess” timeframe and gives the Authority time to prepare the relevant tool kits. Creating knowledge and physical infrastructures for these technologies constitutes one of the Innovation Authority’s primary objectives.
Each year, the Innovation Authority conducts a thorough and comprehensive survey aimed at identifying these technologies according to various definitions and criteria. The survey is intended to guide companies in the technological directions the Authority believes will be significant in the near future. The findings of the survey help the Innovation Authority to identify when to act – when to incentivize centers of knowledge, to develop training programs, to bring academic knowledge to fruition, to invest in infrastructures, and to create supportive platforms.
Dr. Aviv Zeevi, VP & Head of the Technological Infrastructure Division at the Innovation Authority, explains “The objective is to create a facilitating infrastructure for the companies so that they can preserve their position at the forefront of technology and to identify the new interfaces that struggle to grow and emerge. These are technologies in which Innovation Authority’s investment can make the difference between already adopting the technology within three years and its use in the next decade”.
How are Emerging Technologies Identified?
The process of identifying emerging technologies at the Innovation Authority is comprehensive and consists of several stages. It begins with the gathering of data from a variety of sources such as articles, market studies, online sources, and databases. The information gathered is analyzed and validated while collaborating with industry representatives, academia, and leading researchers. The analysis and validation of the data include a world-class technological survey, consideration of national needs, local knowledge, comparative advantage, and an examination of the expected economic impact on the market. In addition to these collaborations, the Authority conducts round table meetings to encourage in-depth discussion and sharing of knowledge between experts from different fields, all of which constitute a foundation for subsequent recommendations, and for Innovation Authority investment. Upon completion of this process, the Innovation Authority has a consolidated list of emerging technologies.
This process of data collection and the location and validation of emerging technologies requires both deep and flexible consideration and embodies many challenges that highlight the need to remain focused and precise when defining the requirements of each technology. For example, we need to understand whether the development of each technology requires equipment or expertise that do not exist in Israel, any difficulties in locating the potential applications, whether knowledge exists in academia that is inaccessible to industry, and whether there are any regulatory obstacles.
Once the list of new technologies has been formulated, the Innovation Authority begins diverting significant resources for the promotion of infrastructures and the study of these technologies in Israel. In summary, the Authority’s success is measured in the value that it creates for the industry, whether by resolving market failures, advancing technologies to development stages quicker than the global average, or in the scope of commercialized academic knowledge. This is all undertaken together with extensive and continued efforts to bridge between academia and industry. It is true that Israel is one of the global leaders in this field, however, there are still numerous technologies on the “shelves” of academia and the economic value they represent is leading the Innovation Authority to invest in advancing their application in industry.